Partners in Crime
by Alpha Ace
Summary: Sometimes it felt like they spent more time snarking than anything else. Assassin!Dick, Assassin!Artemis. Traught.


Artemis is twelve and she doesn't know what she's doing.

One minute she was aiming her bow and the next _he_ was... and now he's...

Artemis doesn't know what she's doing.

She just knows she wants to get away from here. The second she makes a move to leave, strong arms grip her shoulders keeping her in place. "He ain't dead baby girl. He just needs to get patched up a bit then we can hand him off," her dad grins proudly down at her. "You did good, Artemis."

She doesn't feel happy about that.

...

Artemis is fifteen and she knows exactly what she's doing as she releases an arrow and it strikes her target in the chest. The arrow pierces his heart and he falls instantly.

She lowers her bow.

As far as jobs go, this is one of the better ones. The guy was a white collar criminal who siphoned money away from his own charity to fund his drug business. The pay wasn't as good as some of her other jobs but she'd survive.

"Nice aim, Artie."

She knew that voice anywhere. He wore dressed in black from head to toe blending into the night easily. His hands are in his pockets and a relaxed grin on his face. He isn't wearing a mask so she can clearly see his bright blue eyes staring back at her.

"What are you doing here, Talon?" she asks as she collapses her bow and attaches it to her belt.

"_Ex_-Talon," he corrects. "I'm a freelancer now, just like you Artie."

She raises an eyebrow. You can't exactly quit the Court of Owls. You were either retired for incompetence and since it's _him _that can't be it.

"Aren't you going to invite me to your place?" he asks avoiding the subject. "I know you're dying to have some alone time with me." He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Artemis snorts. "_Dick."_

"That was funny the first time Artie," Dick says with a pout. "So, can I crash at your place or not?"

"Fine but you owe me one," Artemis answers.

His face just lights up. "Race you!" he yells as he jumps to the next rooftop expertly, even doing a little flip in the air before landing. Dick's always been a huge showoff.

Artemis chases after him. She really hates losing to Dick.

(He wins but he had a head start so it doesn't count.)

...

They met two years ago when they were sent on the same mission.

Sportsmaster thought it would be great practice to have her take on Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy. They were both archers and he had reliable intel that Green Arrow would be away from the city on League business that night. The Court of Owls had the same idea and sent their newest Talon.

They probably spent more time fighting each other than with Speedy.

And well, it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

...

After a few weeks, Artemis can tell Dick is restless. He's constantly checking over his shoulder for assassins. If he keeps it up, he's going to go insane. She knows, she was like that too when she ran away from her dad. There's only one real way to get rid of Dick's problem and yeah, it's stupid and reckless but most of her decisions fall under that category anyway.

"Come on birdboy," Artemis says as she slings her quiver over her shoulder. "Let's go take down the Court of Owls."

His eyes widen and he just stares at her for a moment as if she's completely lost her mind. "You do know they have an army of undead Talons at their disposal right?"

"What's the matter? Scared of a few zombies?" she taunts.

"If we're going to do this, we have to do it the smart way. We can't just rush in by ourselves and take on the whole Court," Dick says. He rubs his chin thoughtfully before breaking out into a huge grin. "I heard a rumor Batman has been trying to get at the Court of Owls for years."

She returns the smile. Always leave it to Dick to come up with a good plan. Between the two of them, he's always been the planner. What can she say, she's a girl of action.

"Plant a few clues for Bats to find and he and his superfriends can handle the rest," Artemis says.

They both go into their rooms to grab a few things.

Dick comes out in an all black attire with a domino mask covering his eyes. Artemis is glad he's not using his old Talon mask anymore. The thing always gave her the creeps. That was probably the point of it but it's still creepy.

They go out through the window and into the night.

They have work to do.

...

It's burning.

The place Dick has called home for the past few years is burning and he can't feel anything but joy. After his parents died those crooks took him and forced him into this life. Yeah, the life is exciting and all but he hates having to kill at someone else's command.

He wants to be free... like a robin.

Dicks turns to his partner in crime, Artemis as they watch the Justice League battle the remaining Talons. He can't help but shudder when he thinks those things could have been _him_ one day.

"My boy, you are going to regret turning your back on your heritage."

Dick pivots on his heel and he sees two glowing orange eyes coming out from an owl mask. The Talon moves faster than he can and grips Artemis' neck and lifts her up off the ground.

"And for what? Did you do it for this girl?" the Talon asks.

Dick grits his teeth and can't help but feel anger well up inside him. No one insults Artie, especially not his great grandfather.

He pulls one of his knives from his belt and lunges at Talon. Talon parries the hit easily with his own knife and scoffs. "You have talent but you're inexperienced still. If you had continued your training with the Court you could have surpassed me easily but now you're just _prey_," the Talon mocks.

Dick grins like he always does. That was just a distraction.

Artemis pulls one of her arrows from her quiver and stabs it into Talon's eyes. His grip on her throat loosens enough for her to break free and in a very graceful movement, she kicks him in the stomach sending him reeling.

Then the arrow exploded.

She quickly nocks an arrow and hits him with another explosive arrow and another and another.

He can't help but feel a certain amount of satisfaction seeing Artemis reduce his great grandfather's body to a bloody mess. The old man should have died a long time ago.

"Nice aim, Artie," he says.

"So, now that you're a free man, what are you going to do?" Artemis asks.

"There's one thing I've always wanted to do," Dick answers as he closes the distant between them in a single step.

And he kisses her like she's the only thing that matters anymore.

(She kisses him back.)

...

**A/N: **

This was inspired by a prompt I saw on the Young Justice anon meme about Artemis and Dick being cool snarky bad guy buddies who accidentally fall in love.

It's a little rushed but oh well.

For those of you who don't follow the comics, the Court of Owls are a secret society that used to control Gotham for centuries. They use assassins, which they call Talons. They recruit from Haly's Circus and Dick was meant to become one but Bruce adopted him before they had a chance. Obviously in this AU, Bruce didn't make it in time.


End file.
